Search form

Search form

Illinois school officials haven't been able to convince the U.S. Department of Education that the state's alternative ELL test is on par with Illinois' regular tests, so the roughly 36,000 English-language learners there will take regular grade-level tests, with accommodations, until another alternative test can be developed.

Related Summaries

A district superintendent's suspension and possible expulsion of roughly two dozen students who protested the Iraq war at a suburban Chicago-area high school angered some parents and teens. "The kids do a peaceful sit-in and they're threatened with expulsion, yet the military is running around the school trying to recruit," said parent Adam Szwarek. The district superintendent, Ben Nowakowski, in a statement said the teens were not being disciplined for protesting, but for disrupting the school day.

NCLB should measure classroom teaching directly rather than defining highly qualified teachers only as those with specialized degrees, training or certification, writes Robert C. Pianta, the dean of the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. "Being certified or having a master's degree doesn't guarantee interactions with students that produce learning," he writes.

Comprehensive sex education does more to delay and reduce teen sex than abstinence-only programs, according to a new study by the nonpartisan National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. "At present there does not exist any strong evidence that any abstinence program delays the initiation of sex, hastens the return to abstinence or reduces the number of sexual partners," the study concludes.

Data-driven decision making is allowing Wisconsin teachers to better identify and help gifted but shy students and learners with special needs. "It's a much more systematized and scientific approach," said Richmond Superintendent George Zimmer.

After 15 years of unsuccessfully attempting to remove lead from its water fountains, Baltimore schools will offer bottled water to all. Recent tests found that 10 fountains that had passed previous tests still contained too much lead.